Wood Bats

Victus x50 axe handle. I am sure he will find something more expensive.

I ordered a American Batsmith MT27 in birch a few weeks ago for my son. Should be arriving sometime next week. He still uses his Baum for cage work. There is also a small bat maker in SW Texas, Panda Bat Co, that we ordered a couple of models from, C271 and an AP5. My son likes the C271. The AP5 is too much bat for him.

All this after he ordered two nice Dovetail DT71 Axe last year. He used one for a couple of games and the other one he used in about one or two cages sessions and then never saw the light of day after.

@ARCEKU21 posted:

I ordered a American Batsmith MT27 in birch a few weeks ago for my son. Should be arriving sometime next week. He still uses his Baum for cage work. There is also a small bat maker in SW Texas, Panda Bat Co, that we ordered a couple of models from, C271 and an AP5. My son likes the C271. The AP5 is too much bat for him.

All this after he ordered two nice Dovetail DT71 Axe last year. He used one for a couple of games and the other one he used in about one or two cages sessions and then never saw the light of day after.

Is the C271 more balanced? I'm worried the FT23 I ordered is going to be too much. It is commonly compared to an AP5. He's been trying to take swings with other kid's bats at the cage but they are either the same JC24 or longer/shorter than what he uses.

C271 has a slight end load, but not as much as the AP5.

My son has always received great wood from Phoenix Bats.  Check them out...they even have a return policy on your first bat if you dont like the way it feels.  My son is now swinging the NP13 and really likes it.  The site has great descriptions of all the bats and of course you can customize.  

https://phoenixbats.com

Rawlings 271 Ash feels great to me and surprisingly has held up well. I used the Marucci Jr7 before but it doesn’t feel the same anymore.

i made a deal with the son that if he hit a particular lifting goal (4 plate conventional deadlift), I'd take him to birdman to get a bat.  coincidentally, the bat he was using all summer and fall broke (a game bat from a former MLB player that he was instructed to use, not keep) so, when he finally hit that lift, he had an idea of what specs he was looking for.

birdman's shop is down the street from my work and they're really great guys, so i called them up and they said to bring him down with the broken bat.  Son felt all of their models and said that he liked the balance of one and the handle of another.  long story short, they combined the two and gave it his "own" model number.  Now, in wood, he swings an uncupped 33.5 AS405.  also, they gave me the "local discount" so it was still pricy but not near what a "custom" model would be at their normal prices. 

https://mastacbat.com/

Owned by a veteran that is a current high school coach.  Good quality bats!

Son really likes Odin. https://www.odinlumber.com. Great guy, solid company, great products.

He also enjoys Slugger maples.

Both in 271 turn.

As an aside, fascinating article in The Athletic about wood bats. Paywall, but The Athletic is truly an amazing read on  a daily basis for baseball. https://theathletic.com/256425...n-holding-them-back/

Great article @Senna. I read it last night. My son has used Maxbat, Sambat, Slugger, and a couple others not worth mentioning. He loves training with wood in the offseason and would like to use it in season too but it can get pretty expensive and I dont think that he gets quite the same pop as a good aluminum or composite.

The last bats purchased (that are his new favorite) is the Sambat Pro Select 4-pack. It is relatively inexpensive at $399 for 4 pro level bats (they did not have the 6-pack Pro Select when we got them last fall). They are all slightly different...some with thicker handles, bigger barrels, or different knobs, etc and you get an assortment at whatever length you order. Our only request was no bats with the thickest handles (1"+) as he does not like very thick handles and they sent everything less than 1". We got 4 bats and he really liked 3 of them and then sold the 4th to a buddy for $100. $100/each is a rock solid deal for pro-level bats imo.

https://sambat.com/collections...cts/pro-stock-4-pack

Mike Diaz, Pirates OF and I conducted "baseball clinics" in Northern California. His nickname for the Pirates promotions was "RAMBO"!

Mike is a very good teacher of hitting. We discuss his wood bats, his game bat was 35" 33 ounces, however his special bat against Dwight Gooden was 33" 31ounce. The moral of the story a hitter adjusts to the pitcher, the weather, the ballpark and the wind.

My son is the SSK Promotions Director and he sells the SSK bats to the MLB teams.

Bob

Used Victus JC24, Victus Axe, B45 Pro Select VV1, Trying out Holtz this summer and probably will want to go over the Chandler and try out their bats and am sure he will find something there that he just has to have lol. He absolutely loved his first Victus JC 24 bat but after it broke he didn't get the same feel from subsequent JC24 so thus the search for the perfect bat!!!

@ARCEKU21 posted:

I ordered a American Batsmith MT27 in birch a few weeks ago for my son. Should be arriving sometime next week. He still uses his Baum for cage work. There is also a small bat maker in SW Texas, Panda Bat Co, that we ordered a couple of models from, C271 and an AP5. My son likes the C271. The AP5 is too much bat for him.

All this after he ordered two nice Dovetail DT71 Axe last year. He used one for a couple of games and the other one he used in about one or two cages sessions and then never saw the light of day after.

Same here, just received an American Batsmith MT27 Birch for my son. Love the Pine Tar look!

HS season ends on Friday so he will start swing it this weekend.

@fly996 posted:

Same here, just received an American Batsmith MT27 Birch for my son. Love the Pine Tar look!

HS season ends on Friday so he will start swing it this weekend.

How does your son like it so far? Did it you get it compressed?

@ARCEKU21 posted:

How does your son like it so far? Did it you get it compressed?

He likes the look and it feels good based on a few test swings. The first real test will be a full round of BP this weekend. Yes, compressed (without question).

Also, the weight is spot on and this has a much bigger sweet spot when compared to his C271's from Victus and LS.

My son has tried many bats (sorry don't remember the models) and decided on using Chandler for several years.  The way he explained it to me (non-technical) is he loves the feel, durability and results.

My son has found that in birch he likes swinging Trinity wood. Prices for Trinity are fairly reasonable and has held up really well. Tried a few other brands in birch and Trinity was noticeably better.

For Maple he has had the best luck with Old Hickory.

@bruins11 posted:

My son has found that in birch he likes swinging Trinity wood. Prices for Trinity are fairly reasonable and has held up really well. Tried a few other brands in birch and Trinity was noticeably better.

For Maple he has had the best luck with Old Hickory.

Interesting...exact same experience as my son. 

If you desire the appearance of a "longer" bat do you turn the trademark down or up?

Bob

I used to get 3 packs of blems from Old Hickory.  Kid liked those a lot.  Also had SSK's via Bob's son, which he liked, and some Stingers via a Connie Mack coach.  I don't think he was crazy about those.

My son uses nothing but Baum Bats for the last 3 years and loves them! Purchased 1 bat in 3 years!

My son loves Zinger Bats: https://www.zingerbats.com. They are a local manufacturer in the Phoenix-area so he can get blemished ones at a great price. Seem to hold up well and they are customizable.

@bamatarheel posted:

My son uses nothing but Baum Bats for the last 3 years and loves them! Purchased 1 bat in 3 years!

doesn't baum only have 110s and 271s?  i'd love my son to swing an unbreakable wood bat but he doesn't like the turn models that Baum offers

Sooo i am dating myself i guess. We used to buy Victus back when they were a small upstart in South Jersey. They had a bunch of local reps if you didn't want to drive to the "main facility" you could get a high quality bat for 60 to 85 bucks depending on how much you wanted to customize. Kids get bigger, they get jobs they start buying their own stuff (or at least putting on their own credit card before i pay for it) so this thread made me think of them and check on the web site. Damn how times change quickly. They aren't some little start up anymore and they certainly aren't cheap, i assume they are sill producing good quality?

@old_school posted:

Sooo i am dating myself i guess. We used to buy Victus back when they were a small upstart in South Jersey. They had a bunch of local reps if you didn't want to drive to the "main facility" you could get a high quality bat for 60 to 85 bucks depending on how much you wanted to customize. Kids get bigger, they get jobs they start buying their own stuff (or at least putting on their own credit card before i pay for it) so this thread made me think of them and check on the web site. Damn how times change quickly. They aren't some little start up anymore and they certainly aren't cheap, i assume they are sill producing good quality?

Victus quality is great. Their finish is amazing!

@old_school posted:

Sooo i am dating myself i guess. We used to buy Victus back when they were a small upstart in South Jersey. They had a bunch of local reps if you didn't want to drive to the "main facility" you could get a high quality bat for 60 to 85 bucks depending on how much you wanted to customize. Kids get bigger, they get jobs they start buying their own stuff (or at least putting on their own credit card before i pay for it) so this thread made me think of them and check on the web site. Damn how times change quickly. They aren't some little start up anymore and they certainly aren't cheap, i assume they are sill producing good quality?

Marucci purchased Victus back in 2017. So definitely not a little start up anymore.

@fly996 posted:

He likes the look and it feels good based on a few test swings. The first real test will be a full round of BP this weekend. Yes, compressed (without question).

Also, the weight is spot on and this has a much bigger sweet spot when compared to his C271's from Victus and LS.

My son's American Batsmith MT27 arrived today. I couldn't resist and took it out of the box. Love the feel of the bat in some of the half speed practice swings I took with it. Going to take him for some BP tonight and gets some swings on it.

@ARCEKU21 posted:

My son's American Batsmith MT27 arrived today. I couldn't resist and took it out of the box. Love the feel of the bat in some of the half speed practice swings I took with it. Going to take him for some BP tonight and gets some swings on it.

My son has had two solid rounds of BP with his. He really likes it and is hitting it well.

My son is in the same situation as the OP.  Swung The Goods during varsity with great success.  That's when we discovered that he actually does better with end loaded bats.  That surprised me bec he's small for his age and I always thought he should be swinging a balanced bat.  Our explanation for this is that if he can handle end loaded, it's better for him as he can put more mass behind his swing.

So when we were looking for a wood bat last week for his summer season, he already decided that he wants Victus based on what he hears from other boys.  We went to a local store and swing all the various Victus models they have and he likes the end loaded ones (Tatis23 and EB12).  Unfortunately, the local store doesn't have his size (33").  I looked online and saw that most Tatis are out of stock and was able to snag an EB12 (with a 12% coupon).  I should have ordered several.  My son took the EB12 to the cages yesterday and loved it.  I went to order another one as a backup and it's all now out of stock.  I was able to snag a Tatis this afternoon (for full price).  Hope the store actually have it in stock.

I bought my son a Baum bat last year.  He didn't like like.  He said it's too balanced for him and the metal rod in the bat prevents the bat from flexing.  He sold his Baum (and pocketed the money instead of giving it to me).

The Tatis23 arrived a couple days ago. Looked good hitting flips in the garage. Took him to his travel team BP last night and, wow! He said it feels better than The Goods. Guess he’ll see if he can handle it this weekend in a game. I really hope it doesn’t break. They are very hard to find.

@atlnon my son was also always considered small. Now he’s catching up in height but he’s still only 155. He swung a 33 last summer and has been doing well with that size since. Let me know if you son sees a difference in the EB12 vs the Tatis23

@ARCEKU21 posted:

My son's American Batsmith MT27 arrived today. I couldn't resist and took it out of the box. Love the feel of the bat in some of the half speed practice swings I took with it. Going to take him for some BP tonight and gets some swings on it.

Took my son to hit some BP last night with the American Batsmith. He loves it. He said it is easy swinging. He said the sound the birch makes is awesome. Very loud wood. Even had a couple of the other kids come ask what he was swinging.

But this wood bat stuff is kind of addicting. Have my eye on the Marucci Lindy12 and the Trinity JW2.

I think bats in general are addicting, but definitely the wood bats. I pulled out all my son's bats last weekend to see if we could sell any; 33 The Goods, 33 Voodoo One, 32 blue Meta, 33 Victus JC24 red, 33 Victus JC24 black, and the new 33 Victus Tatis23 (not really sure what they would call the color, blue/gray?)

All of the BBCOR bats are selling for more than what I paid new. Crazy

@TerribleBPthrower, will let you know.  I'm just crossing my finger that Dick's actually have it in stock.  I'm still waiting for the "your order has shipped" emaIl.  I could have done in store pickup in one of their few stores that claims to have 1 still in stock, but it's a 30 min drive.

BTW, does anyone know the difference between the FT23 and Tatis23 model?  Looks like they are exactly the same from the pics and specs.  Is one an older year model?

I've been intrigued by the birch bats but my son wanted to stick with maple.  At the end of the day, I think most of it is mental and it's whatever bat gives them the most confidence.  It's unfortunate that it ends up being the more expensive bats that gives these boys confidence....

@atlnon posted:

@TerribleBPthrower, will let you know.  I'm just crossing my finger that Dick's actually have it in stock.  I'm still waiting for the "your order has shipped" emaIl.  I could have done in store pickup in one of their few stores that claims to have 1 still in stock, but it's a 30 min drive.

BTW, does anyone know the difference between the FT23 and Tatis23 model?  Looks like they are exactly the same from the pics and specs.  Is one an older year model?

I've been intrigued by the birch bats but my son wanted to stick with maple.  At the end of the day, I think most of it is mental and it's whatever bat gives them the most confidence.  It's unfortunate that it ends up being the more expensive bats that gives these boys confidence....

I think they are the same bat. We ordered an “FT23” from Team Express and it says “Tatis23” on the barrel

@TerribleBPthrower posted:

I think bats in general are addicting, but definitely the wood bats. I pulled out all my son's bats last weekend to see if we could sell any; 33 The Goods, 33 Voodoo One, 32 blue Meta, 33 Victus JC24 red, 33 Victus JC24 black, and the new 33 Victus Tatis23 (not really sure what they would call the color, blue/gray?)

All of the BBCOR bats are selling for more than what I paid new. Crazy

Yup, I am in the process of turning over bats also. Starting to sell of his 32" models and picking up the 33" models he wants for next year before they sell out.

I've never had luck selling his old bats.  I'll try again to see if I can sell it.  Where do you guys sell it mostly?  Ebay, FB marketplace and/or Craigslist?

@atlnon posted:

I've never had luck selling his old bats.  I'll try again to see if I can sell it.  Where do you guys sell it mostly?  Ebay, FB marketplace and/or Craigslist?

I sell on SidelineSwap and Mercari. Usually have no issues and they sell quick. Also sell old gloves. Got $100 for a beat up Pedroia A2000

@atlnon posted:

@TerribleBPthrower, will let you know.  I'm just crossing my finger that Dick's actually

I've been intrigued by the birch bats but my son wanted to stick with maple.  At the end of the day, I think most of it is mental and it's whatever bat gives them the most confidence.  It's unfortunate that it ends up being the more expensive bats that gives these boys confidence....

my son tried birch but went back to maple.  he said there's too much flex in the birch and it doesn't feel right to him. 

The Tatis came in this afternoon. We were surprised that it was exact same color as the EB12 (flat top/cherry) bec the ones I see sold is a different color (gray barrel/grit handle). I’ll post an update when he had a chance to swing it and compare to the EB12. By looking at it, he said the barrel looks slightly bigger than the EB12.